The Scariest TV Show Ever Made Isn't Horror

The invention of television was a great boon for horror storytellers. With early anthologies like Lights Out and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, TV producers proved the horror genre could work wonders in this new medium. Horror TV shows are the best of both worlds, combining the immersive worldbuilding of horror literature with the cinematic terror of horror movies, and it brings the scares directly into the audience’s home, where they’re supposed to feel safe and secure.

There have been a ton of great horror shows over the years, with a lot of different spins on the genre. The Addams Family was a sitcom full of paranormal activity; Dark Shadows was a soap opera full of vampires. The Twilight Zone used tales of the macabre to allegorize pressing sociopolitical issues of the ‘50s and ‘60s — for example, a commie sympathizer would be represented as an alien impostor. The Walking Dead revived the zombie genre (and then ran it back into the ground). Widow’s Bay and Ash vs. Evil Dead have injected their horror with a hefty helping of hilarity.

There are many terrifying shows that could lay claim to the title of scariest TV series ever made. Hammer House of Horror is a rare anthology without a single bad episode; it’s a flawless cinematic odyssey through the horrors of witchcraft and white supremacy. The Haunting of Hill House is both one of the finest dramatic miniseries of the 21st century and one of the spookiest haunted-house stories ever put on-screen.

But I’d argue that the scariest TV show ever made isn’t a horror show; it’s a historical drama. HBO’s Chernobyl is such a harrowing recreation of such a horrific tragedy that it creeped me out a helluva lot more than The Walking Dead or The Haunting of Hill House ever did.

Chernobyl Is More Terrifying Than Any Straightforward Horror Show

I watch just about every horror show that hits the airwaves, and I’ve never been more terrified by a TV show than when I watched Chernobyl. Chernobyl was a complete 180 for its writer, Craig Mazin, who, at the time, was only known for writing Hangovers and Scary Movies. Mazin ditched his usual lewd humor to tell the horrifying true story of the Chernobyl disaster, whereby a nuclear reactor exploded and the surrounding area was devastated. As you see local families doomed in an instant, radiation poisoning spreading from person to person, and animals dropping dead as an ominous warning sign, you’ll feel more dread and anxiety than you’ve ever felt watching a straightforward horror series.

Chernobyl has been hailed for its attention to detail. It may contain some composite characters and some streamlined storylines, but the nitty-gritty of the nuclear fallout is hauntingly spot-on. When you’re watching the witches of Hammer House of Horror or the vampires of Dark Shadows or the walking dead of The Walking Dead, you can just tell yourself it’s not real. But everything that happens in Chernobyl as a result of radiation exposure is very, very real.

Chernobyl Is About More Than Just The Terror Of Nuclear Fallout

Chernobyl perfectly captures the sheer horror of nuclear fallout — the gruesome radiation burns, the dead birds falling out of the sky, the workers being sent to certain death — but it’s about more than just the physical ramifications of the explosion. It also digs into the government cover-up that followed, and the one brave whistleblower who risks his life to expose the truth.

Ultimately, Chernobyl is a love letter to everyone with the courage to stand up, speak truth to power, and plant themselves on the right side of history. Much like The Wire and Paths of Glory and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, it’s a rousing tale of one noble individual standing up to a corrupt institution.

Chernobyl

10/10

Release Date 2019 - 2019

Network HBO

Showrunner Craig Mazin

Directors Johan Renck

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  Jared Harris

  Valery Legasov

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